Psalm Meditation 1242 ¶Second Sunday of Easter ¶April 7, 2024 ¶Psalm 108 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+108&version=NRSVUE (NRSVUE) ¶While we are grateful to receive God’s promises, we can get impatient with the timing and the method of their fulfillment. When God promises to be with us always, we are grateful. When God does not live out that promise to our satisfaction, we are apt to see it as a failure of the promise rather than a failure of our expectations. A colleague related an experience of having lunch with a mentor of his. When my friend complained that there was never enough dipping sauce for his chicken nuggets his lunch partner suggested that perhaps there was too much chicken. ¶We want God to work in ways that fit our needs, wants, and desires. When it doesn’t happen on our schedule we are ready to complain about the timing and appropriateness of God’s actions in our lives. After giving thanks for all that God has done for the chosen people, the psalmist complains that God has not made a particular military victory as easy and complete as everyone had hoped. ‘It must be God’s fault that we were not as successful as we would have hoped. And as soon as God catches up to us, we will be victorious once again.’ ¶God is always with us. Sometimes God urges us to move forward despite our misgivings, sometimes urges us to hang back when we are overconfident. From time to time we are on the same wavelength as is God and we move in a unison that is exhilarating to everyone involved. The best examples from Scripture are of those who made the effort to listen to the leading God offers, and the worst are of those who set out without consulting God, and expected God to catch up after realizing how excellent their plan really was. ¶April 1, 2024 ¶LCM